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Music, Instruments & Maestros

⏱ 5 min read🧩 4 question types🎯 16 practice Q

The idea in one minute

Two systems: Hindustani (north; Persian influence; ragas tied to time of day; forms — dhrupad (oldest), khayal, thumri, tappa) and Carnatic (south; kriti composition; fixed compositions).

Carnatic essentials

Purandara Dasa = "father (Pitamaha) of Carnatic music".
Trinity of Carnatic music: Tyagaraja, Muthuswami Dikshitar, Syama Sastri (all 18th–19th c., Thiruvarur region, TN).
Tyagaraja Aradhana festival is held at Thiruvaiyaru.

Instrument → maestro

Instrument	Type	Maestro(s)
Sitar	String	Pt. Ravi Shankar (Bharat Ratna 1999), Vilayat Khan, Anoushka Shankar
Sarod	String	Ali Akbar Khan, Amjad Ali Khan
Shehnai	Wind	Ustad Bismillah Khan (Bharat Ratna 2001)
Tabla	Drum	Zakir Hussain, Alla Rakha, Kishan Maharaj
Bansuri (flute)	Wind	Pt. Hariprasad Chaurasia, Pannalal Ghosh
Santoor	String (struck)	Shivkumar Sharma, Rahul Sharma
Sarangi	Bowed string	Pt. Ram Narayan, Sabri Khan
Violin (Carnatic)	Bowed	Lalgudi Jayaraman, L. Subramaniam, N. Rajam (Hindustani)
Mandolin	String	U. Srinivas
Mridangam	Drum	Palghat Mani Iyer, Umayalpuram Sivaraman
Veena (Saraswati)	String	E. Gayathri, S. Balachander

Vocalists who won the Bharat Ratna: M.S. Subbulakshmi (1998, first musician), Pt. Ravi Shankar (1999, sitar), Lata Mangeshkar (2001), Bismillah Khan (2001), Pt. Bhimsen Joshi (2009, Kirana gharana), Bhupen Hazarika (2019, posthumous).

Classical instrument families (Natya Shastra): Tata (string) · Sushira (wind) · Avanaddha (membrane/drum) · Ghana (solid — cymbals, ghatam).

Two systems of classical music

Hindustani (north) — Persian influence; ragas tied to the time of day; older form dhrupad, then khayal, thumri, tappa; musicians belong to gharanas. Carnatic (south) — kriti compositions; the Trinity: Tyagaraja, Muthuswami Dikshitar, Syama Sastri; Purandara Dasa is the 'father (Pitamaha) of Carnatic music'. Tansen, at Akbar's court (one of the Navaratnas), is the fountainhead of Hindustani music.

Instruments — the four-fold classification

Class	Meaning	Examples
Tat (stringed)	strings vibrated	sitar, veena, sarod, santoor, violin
Sushir (wind)	air column	flute (bansuri), shehnai, nadaswaram
Avanaddha (membrane)	skin struck	tabla, mridangam, pakhawaj, dholak
Ghana (solid)	struck/struck solid	ghatam, kanjira, manjira, jal tarang

Quick sort: shehnai = wind, santoor = stringed (100 strings struck with mallets), tabla = membranophone, ghatam = clay-pot idiophone.

Maestros ↔ instruments

Maestro	Instrument
Ustad Bismillah Khan	Shehnai (Bharat Ratna 2001)
Pt. Ravi Shankar	Sitar (Bharat Ratna 1999)
Ustad Amjad Ali Khan / Ali Akbar Khan	Sarod
Ustad Zakir Hussain	Tabla
Pt. Shivkumar Sharma	Santoor
Pt. Hariprasad Chaurasia	Flute
Pt. Vishwa Mohan Bhatt	Mohan veena (slide guitar)
Ustad Allah Rakha	Tabla (Zakir's father)
M.S. Subbulakshmi	Carnatic vocal (first musician Bharat Ratna, 1998)
Pt. Bhimsen Joshi	Hindustani vocal (Kirana gharana; Bharat Ratna 2008)
Ustad Allauddin Khan	Sarod/raga architect — Maihar gharana; teacher of Ravi Shankar and Ali Akbar Khan

M.S. Subbulakshmi (1998) was the first musician to get the Bharat Ratna; Ravi Shankar followed in 1999. Lata Mangeshkar (2001) and Bhimsen Joshi (2008) complete the musician Bharat Ratnas.

Gharanas (Hindustani)

Gwalior is the oldest khayal gharana. Others: Kirana (Bhimsen Joshi's line via Abdul Karim Khan), Jaipur-Atrauli, Agra, Patiala (Bade Ghulam Ali Khan), Banaras (tabla and thumri). Tabla gharanas: Lucknow, Farrukhabad, Banaras, Punjab, Delhi. In Kathak, gharanas are Lucknow, Jaipur and Banaras.

The violin in Carnatic music

The European violin was absorbed into Carnatic music around the 18th–19th century (credited to Baluswami Dikshitar, brother of Muthuswami); it is now indispensable as an accompaniment. The nadaswaram (wind) leads temple processions in the south, paired with the thavil drum.

Question types you will see

Each type: how to recognise it, the method step by step, and one question to try.

Type 1common3 practice Q

Instrument ↔ class

How to spot it:

'Shehnai is what kind of instrument', or odd-one-out among wind/string/percussion instruments.

Use the four classes: tat (stringed), sushir (wind), avanaddha (membrane drum), ghana (solid). Flute/shehnai/nadaswaram = wind; tabla/mridangam = drum; ghatam/kanjira = solid; sitar/sarod/santoor = string.

Try this

The shehnai is classified as —

Show solution

A wind (sushir) instrument — sound from a vibrating air column.

Type 2very common4 practice Q

Maestro ↔ instrument

How to spot it:

A musician's name (Bismillah Khan, Zakir Hussain, Shivkumar Sharma…) with four instruments.

One-to-one map: Bismillah Khan-shehnai, Ravi Shankar-sitar, Amjad Ali Khan/Ali Akbar Khan-sarod, Zakir Hussain/Allah Rakha-tabla, Shivkumar Sharma-santoor, Chaurasia-flute, Vishwa Mohan Bhatt-mohan veena.

Try this

Ustad Zakir Hussain is a virtuoso of —

Show solution

The tabla — son of the legendary Ustad Allah Rakha.

Type 3very common3 practice Q

Hindustani vs Carnatic

How to spot it:

'Father of Carnatic music', the Carnatic Trinity, Tansen's court, or a statement-pair about the two systems.

North = Hindustani (dhrupad/khayal, gharanas, Tansen); South = Carnatic (kriti, Trinity, Purandara Dasa). Any 'Pitamaha' question points to Purandara Dasa.

Try this

The Carnatic Trinity consists of —

Show solution

Tyagaraja, Muthuswami Dikshitar and Syama Sastri.

Type 4common3 practice Q

Bharat Ratna musicians & gharanas

How to spot it:

'First musician to get the Bharat Ratna', which gharana a singer belongs to, the oldest gharana.

Order of musician Bharat Ratnas: M.S. Subbulakshmi (1998), Ravi Shankar (1999), Lata Mangeshkar (2001), Bismillah Khan (2001), Bhimsen Joshi (2008). Gwalior = oldest khayal gharana; Maihar = Allauddin Khan's school.

Try this

Who was the first musician to be awarded the Bharat Ratna?

Show solution

M.S. Subbulakshmi (1998) — the Carnatic vocalist.

Shortcuts that save time

⚡ Carnatic Trinity — "Tea, Milk, Sugar"

Tyagaraja · Muthuswami Dikshitar · Syama Sastri. Purandara Dasa is the father, not part of the trinity.

Example

Who is called the Pitamaha of Carnatic music?

Show solution

Purandara Dasa — father, not one of the trinity.

⚡ Instrument families — "Tata Sings, Avan Drums, Ghana Clangs"

Tata = strings, Sushira = air (wind), Avanaddha = skin drums, Ghana = solid (bells, cymbals, ghatam).

Mistakes to avoid

Where most students lose marks on this subtopic.

Mistake 01

Sarod ≠ sitar: Ravi Shankar = sitar; Ali Akbar Khan & Amjad Ali Khan = sarod.

Mistake 02

First musician to receive the Bharat Ratna = M.S. Subbulakshmi (1998), not Lata Mangeshkar (2001).

Mistake 03

Hariprasad Chaurasia plays the flute; Shivkumar Sharma played the santoor.

Quick revision

Read this the night before the exam.

Purandara Dasa = Carnatic Pitamaha; Trinity = Tyagaraja, Dikshitar, Syama Sastri.
Tat-sushir-avanaddha-ghana: sitar-shehnai-tabla-ghatam.
Bismillah Khan = shehnai (BR 2001); Ravi Shankar = sitar (BR 1999); MS 1998 = first musician BR.
Shivkumar Sharma = santoor; Chaurasia = flute; Zakir Hussain = tabla.
Gwalior = oldest gharana; Allauddin Khan = Maihar.

Practice: 16 questions

Sets of 10, mixed across the question types above. Every answer has a step-by-step explanation.

Topic test · 10 questions

Suggested time 3 min · wrong answers go to your mistake notebook automatically.

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